Eyes Open: A Reflection on Matthew 25.1-13

Today’s Gospel reading is the Parable of the Bridesmaids (traditionally better known as the Parable of the Foolish Virgins). Whenever I see it in the lectionary, I consider it like the sounding of a gong: it’s telling us that Advent is just around the corner, and that we’d better be ready. This is a passage that means a lot to me. But, since I just wrote a lot about it a few weeks ago when looking at the wedding motif in atonement theology, today’s reflection is going to be pretty short and to the point. And the point is this: Be ready and have your stuff together, because you never know when God is going to act.

Today’s parable puts it like this:

Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’ But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

This idea of preparation gets so mixed up in much of contemporary Christianity. It often feels like there are only two options presented to us: ignore the idea of God’s coming, or focus on it to the exclusion of everything else and woefully misunderstand it in the process. What gets lost is that God’s coming is supposed to be a good thing for the world. It’s not a fiery, blood-thirsty end, but a rebirth (a difficult one perhaps, but a rebirth nonetheless), a divine action that will change everything for the better. And, it will be recognized as such by all but those whose hearts are closed to God. Here and in the book of Revelation, it’s compared to the celebration of a wedding. In the Old Testament it was compared to a great Jubilee — a time when debts would be forgiven, enslaved persons freed, and and ancestral lands restored. Or the return of abundant life to a barren wasteland. All of these images are joyful. And yet, so often in Christianity, they are wielded as a threat, especially against those outside of the faith.

But the threat in the parable is about being unprepared, about being left out of the party. And note that it’s not addressed to those on the outside of the community, but to those on the inside. The bridesmaids have a job to do and they know it. But some of them have become complacent, and aren’t ready when the time comes.

At the end of the day, the New Testament has very little to say about those outside the Christian community, but it has a lot to say to those who are inside of it. It’s inside the Church where the big expectations come in. As Christians, the call is to keep our eyes on our own plates, and get our own house in order, not to point fingers at others. And like the bridesmaids in the parable, we have jobs to do. We are called to live out our faith, bearing the good fruit of faith, hope, love, and so on (Galatians 5.22), to forgive others as we are forgiven (Matthew 6.12, 15), to judge others with the same grace and compassion with which we hope to be judged (Matthew 7.1-5), to live out our vocations, “each according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Ephesians 4.7), and to “grow up into the full stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4.13), taking up his Good News of freedom for the captive, healing of the infirm, and proclamation of Jubilee (Luke 4.18-19) and blessing for the grieving, the poor in spirit, and humble (Matthew 5.1-12). If we aren’t living this out, then we’re asleep at the wheel. And the message of today’s parable is to wake up.

We have a job to do. So let’s do it.

Behold the bridegroom comes at midnight
and blessed is the servant whom he shall find watching,
but unworthy is the one whom he shall find heedless….